The next eight weeks will be dominated by the party conferences and the countdown to the Chancellor’s first Budget.
At the Budget at the end of October Rachel Reeves will set out the government’s spending plans and economic policies. The media and politicians are already debating what might be announced.
As always, we’re busy working to influence the debate and put forward what we think must happen, no matter what party is in government.
We were on LBC last week setting out what we want to see in the Budget. Rachael, our head of advocacy, told Nick Ferrari that tax rises look likely.
What will be in the Budget?
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have repeatedly ruled out raising income tax, VAT, corporation tax and national insurance. They said it would be those with the broadest shoulders who would be asked to contribute the most.
Given this, there is an expectation the government may be looking to increase taxes on the wealthy, for example by raising capital gains tax rates. This is the tax you pay if you make profits by selling assets. Only around 0.5% of the UK taxpayers pay capital gains tax in a given year.
Currently capital gains tax is much lower than income tax. That means at the moment those who get their income mostly from their wealth – like Rishi Sunak – pay much lower rates than those of us who rely on income from work.
We would like to see this changed so that income from wealth and work are taxed at the same rate.
If capital gains tax rates were increased it would be a big win for our campaigning – and for all your work to raise this issue up the political agenda. We’ve been arguing for many years that income from wealth should be taxed the same as income from work. We wouldn’t be here without your efforts.
Rachel Reeves may also take aim at controversial inheritance tax loopholes. These are used by very wealthy families and individuals to lower the tax they pay when passing on their fortunes.
If the Chancellor were to include these measures in the Budget, they would be big wins for our campaign. We’ve been working really hard to make progress with your support, so it is great that these changes could be on the table.
Who should pay more
The prospect of increased taxes may feel worrying, particularly while so many are unable to afford the basics.
Yet that is precisely why we believe that the very wealthiest people in the UK should contribute more tax.
The people who we think should pay more tax are those with enormous fortunes – multimillionaires and billionaires – not you or your neighbour who rely on an ordinary income or pension to get by.
Why we need to raise more revenue
Public services – like schools, hospitals, roads, local councils and social care services to name just a few areas – are struggling after years of budget cuts and soaring demand.
We all rely on public services, especially the NHS. We all have a collective responsibility to contribute to their running according to our means and we do that through our tax contributions.
The government has spoken extensively about the financial mess they inherited from the Conservatives. More money has to come from somewhere – like borrowing or higher tax revenue – if public services are to avoid another damaging round of austerity.
They could go further
Beyond the rumours and speculation, we’re pushing for more ambitious tax reform.
In the Budget we’d like to see the government introduce a new wealth tax on huge fortunes – and close unfair tax loopholes exploited by the super rich.
These proposals are set out here, along with eight other tax reform policies the government could implement that could raise £60 billion a year for public services.
In the run up to the Budget and beyond it, we’ll keep pushing the government to adopt these policies.